African blue tit

Cyanistes teneriffae

The African blue tit is a species of bird in the Paridae family. It is found in northern Africa and the Canary Islands. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. This species and the Eurasian blue tit were formerly considered conspecific.

The Canary Islands subspecies has a black cap, and the African form has a blue back. Research is underway to split these populations into distinct species, with a peculiar "leapfrog" distribution:

Research published in 2007 found that African blue tits on the eastern Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are indistinguishable from those in North Africa and so the subspecies ''degener'' should be regarded as a synonym of ''ultramarinus''.